Nicole schreibt...

Having given London a break for a while, suddenly a regular avalanche of new shows worth seeing were announced and although I had already planned my usual trip in January, I decided I should squish in another quickie in order not to miss some of the interesting new productions. It helped that Eurostar dangled a very special fare of 84 Euro in front of me and that I could find a nice place to stay near St. Pancras on Airbnb. So off I went into the typical London grey drizzle of a Friday afternoon in November. In order to get the special fare I had to take a later train from Brussels, so I didn't arrive at my digs till 4.30pm and in the West End till about 5pm. Which still left me ample time to poke around my favorite shops – a list that has just shortened again with Blackwell's closing on Charing Cross Road. I didn't really like the new shiny too-bright Foyle's across the street either, but I guess it's the last proper big bookstore left now in the area. After dinner at Five Guys (I do like their burgers) I wandered down to the Thames and across to the South Bank for my first show at the National Theatre, "Here lies love" – a musical by David Byrne (he of Talking Heads) and Fatboy Slim. Though it's really not a musical, more a strange hybrid of musical, pop concert and immersive theatre that's hard to explain. Most of the audience are standing in the "pit" (which would normally be where the stalls are) while some are perched on the two circles, which each had two rows only. While those who had seen the show in New York already or the first performances in London, strongly recommended standing in the pit for the dancing and whole immersive thing, I was really glad that I had secured myself one of the cheap seats in what passes for the dress circle, as I was pretty tired after a long day on the move. Since my seat was in the middle, it also gave me a great view on both stages and the ever-moving traverse in the middle (and on the dancing people in the pit). "Here lies love" is the story of the Philippines' infamous first lady Imelda Marcos, best-known for throwing money around while her country was starving, and her +3000 pairs of shoes. Very vaguely it could be compared to Evita, which charted another young poor girl's rise to first lady of a poor country, but that's where the similarities end. While Eva Peron always actively played on her "rise from obscurity" and made herself champion of the poor, Imelda Marcos wanted nothing more than forget her poor childhood and treated the poor with utter disdain. And while Eva died early of cancer, Imelda is still active in Filipino politics – way past her 80th birthday. Not that the musical's story mentions that – it focuses on her stellar rise as a young beauty queen and wife of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and her extravagant spending and parties, with opposition leader Ninoy Aquino acting as the country's conscience. Exiled to the US for a while, Aquino finally dared to return to Manila, where he was murdered by Marcos' henchmen the moment he had left the plane. Even the US government that had always backed the Marcos thus far, couldn't ignore that – soon after Ninoy's widow Cory won elections and the Marcos had to flee the country. Yet despite Imelda being more of a flawed anti-heroine, she is definitely a fascinating woman and Natalie Mendoza did a tremendous job of bringing her alive. Going as far as making people even feel sorry for this deluded woman when she, in her last song after being thrown out of the country, wonders "Why don't you love me?". Dean John-Wilson's Ninoy Aquino was more the likeable hero, having one particularly touching song where he critizes the Marcos' spending – while projections on one wall juxtapose pictures of Imelda's lavish parties in New York with the abject poverty in Manila's slums. Though I was particularly bowled over by Mark Bautista's Ferdinand Marcos, a guy so incredibly handsome and charismatic that I could easily see how dictators can blind their people by charisma alone. The leads were completed by Gia Macuja Atchison as Imelda's childhood friend Estrella, whom Imelda later claims not to know and treats shabbily. The show breezes through at 90 minutes without an interval with most songs in modern disco pop beats and the audience in the pit being used as the "crowds" that would cheer Imelda, dance at her parties and so on. While I certainly wouldn't want to see all shows being done like this, it felt fresh, original and innovative – and definitely no less moving than shows laying it on thickly with drippy ballads. I also liked seeing Asians represented in this way instead of the godawful stupid clichés of Miss Saigon and thought once more it would be really nice to have more ethnically diverse shows instead of "colour-blind casting" just to give some token parts to Asian or black actors. Still on a high after the show, I returned to my room in Kings Cross before facing a rather busy Saturday. Since I often don't really know what to do on Saturday mornings except "Shopping", I had decided to go and see the big Ming Exhibition at the British Museum with many pretty amazing artefacts that had never left China before. It also shed light on the fact that the Ming dynasty was rather short-lived and not very important in the great scheme of things – but it just so happened that during their reign China began to export porcelain to Europe and the fine "Ming vases" are still famous all over the world. I also looked at some other areas of the big museum (my last and only visit some years ago now) before returning to the West End for my Saturday double bill. First on the list was "Shakespeare in Love", the stage adaptation of the famous Oscar-winning movie, which I had felt rather meh about when it was first announced. If movies are turned into musicals, at least the music adds something new to it, but when a movie is just slapped onto the stage, what's the point? Well, in this case, better leads one could argue, for although I liked the movie as such and the many great minor players, I couldn't stand that blonde stick Paltrow as Viola and didn't think much of the rather average-looking Joseph Fiennes as "lady's man" Will Shakespeare either. So the play did me a favour by casting Shakespeare with Tom Bateman, who holds the distinction of being one of the few I discovered and liked on stage before they turned up on TV (in his case in "The Tunnel" and the godawful "Da Vinci's Demons"). The play also considerable enlarged the role of Shakespeare's rival Kit Marlowe, turning him into Will's best friend and casting him with David Oakes, best known for playing weirdo psychopaths like Juan Borgia in "The Borgias". So it was mostly those two I wanted to see the adaptation for and was glad that they offer £15 Day Seats in the front row (rather restricted view but good for ogling). Overall it was gorgeous to look at (no, not just the leading men, the whole sets, costumes and everything) and I did like the two leads – hunky Bateman and Lucy Briggs-Owen as Viola – a whole lot better than the movie duo, but the whole thing still felt a bit... unnecessary. The good bits were already in the movie and the changes didn't really work for me, especially the balcony scene turned into Cyrano with Marlowe acting the Cyrano to Shakespeare's dumbstruck Christian, lost for words to woo Roxane, er, Viola with. I liked it better in the movie where Marlowe was the successful nemesis to Shakespeare and his writer's block. Though Oakes certainly scrubs up well and should play a hero for once instead of a weirdo somewhere on telly. I was actually glad to flee from the crazily crowded West End to the relative quiet of Southwark, where Sondheim's "Assassins" was waiting for me at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Sondheim has always been hit and miss for me and I don't get the adoration of him at all, but I do enjoy the high-quality shows at the tiny Menier and it felt like a show I should just add to my "have seen" list. The great cast certainly helped – Catherine Tate of Doctor Who-fame, Jamie Parker, one of the original History Boys as Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald (who assassinated Kennedy) and Broadway-hunk Aaron Tveit als John Wilkes Booth (Lincoln). The show about all the weirdos who throughout two centuries tried to assassinate US presidents appeals to my sense of cynicism and flowed along nicely (nearly two hours without an interval), but in my opinion also tried a bit too hard to be clever and "Sondheim-esque". But that's just his style, I suppose and I prefer it from the master himself than from the new generation of Broadway composers trying so hard to imitate him. Overall, it was definitely worth hopping over to London for three shows that each came with really high production values and fantastic performers at great value (I paid a grand total of £70 for these three shows!). Now bring on January when a whole bunch of musicals is on the list – the first trip in ages that's only musicals again.